Activist to walk 78 miles across desert in
protest of “Sunrise Powerlink” transmission line

Invitations sent to SDG&E, Governor, and government
officials to join trek

San Diego, Calif. – Sierra Club activist
Kelly Fuller today announced her intention to walk 78 miles through
the desert along the route of San Diego Gas and Electric’s controversial “Sunrise
Powerlink” transmission line project. The walk will begin at
the Imperial Valley Substation near El Centro in Imperial County on
Tuesday, April 11 at 10 a.m. and end on Thursday afternoon, April 20
at the Warner Substation near Warner Springs in San Diego County.

Kelly and supporters are walking the route
to document possible harm from the line on the fragile desert environment
and Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and have invited SDG&E executives
and state and federal decision makers to join in the trek. Kelly’s
walk is supported by five other conservation groups – the Anza-Borrego
Foundation, California Wilderness Coalition, Center for Biological
Diversity, Desert Protective Council, and Friends of Anza-Borrego Desert
State Park.

“The Powerlink is an awful project
that will harm our public lands so we’re going into the field
to experience and document the desert in its current state,” said
Kelly Fuller of the Sierra Club. “I’m inviting dozens of
SDG&E executives and government officials to join us on the walk
because it’s crucial that they experience for themselves the
land, wildlife, and communities that will be harmed by this unnecessary
and destructive project.”

David Hogan, Urban Wildlands Program Director
for the Center for Biological Diversity, said, “Kelly’s
walk will be invaluable for gathering information and highlighting
the stampede by greedy corporations to exploit the desert for energy
without looking at other, less destructive alternatives.”

Bryn Jones, Desert Program Director for the
California Wilderness Coalition, said, "When Anza-Borrego became
a State Park, we entrusted the Governor and the State of California
with protecting its natural and cultural resources for present and
future generations. It is their duty to ensure that the Sunrise Powerlink
does not diminish the values of such a special and wild place."

Terry Weiner, Imperial County Projects Coordinator
for the Desert Protective Council, said, “We applaud Kelly Fuller
and the other citizens who will walk the proposed route of the Sunrise
Powerlink through our fragile, irreplaceable desert. This desert trek
will alert the public to the scenic beauty and the special plants and
animals that will be damaged or lost forever if the construction of
this transmission line is allowed to proceed.”

Jim Ward, Executive Director of Friends of
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park said, “With unprecedented, unrestrained
arrogance for one of the most pristine ecosystems in the world, SDG&E’s
unjustified SPL would slash through Anza-Borrego parklands that the
Department of the Interior has designated as a natural national landmark
and that the United Nations has designated as a biosphere reserve.
It’s crucial that SDG&E come and experience the irreplaceable
natural treasure they are planning to ruin for the millions who visit
the park and future generations.”

Chuck Bennett, Trustee and past-President
of the Anza-Borrego Foundation said, “The importance of Anza-Borrego
Desert State Park, the largest state park in the lower 48 states, must
not be forsaken when alternate routes for powerlines are available.
Where an unleashed dog is prohibited to protect a globally recognized
and revered ecosystems, surely so should power lines and their mammoth
towers.”

The Sunrise Powerlink is a major new electrical
transmission line project from the Imperial Valley desert to the north
coastal City of San Diego. Many have questioned the need for SDG&E’s
proposed construction of a high capacity segment of the project from
near El Centro to Warner Springs when the company proposes smaller
capacity lines from there to San Diego, and why the line would run
so far north only to turn south to serve San Diego. SDG&E documents
reveal an audacious master plan by the company to extend the large-capacity
lines from Warner Springs to Orange County, thereby opening a large
California market for resale at top dollar of cheaply generated power
from Sempra Energy’s fossil-fuel power plants in Mexico.